This is how it starts. Someone adds the word "Plus" to a familiar service. Plus sounds like more, but somehow it's almost always a harbinger of less: less access, fewer features unless you pay. The collection of Plus-sized social media platforms — Facebook Plus, Instagram Plus, WhatsApp Plus — all cheerfully introduced this week by Meta's Head of Product Naomi Gleit, is, despite what Meta might claim, likely the first step in a short path to reduced access to the core features of these popular social media platforms.
Gleit positions the change in her Instagram video as "building value" and delivering "enhanced features that our community already loves."
The Plus-sized services are, Gleit says on Facebook, rolling out today and should offer "premium features that unlock more from our apps and our AI glasses." The only tangible change, though, may be Meta AI falling in step with many of its generative AI competitors, and adding more capacity, the ability to handle more complex requests, and "more room to create." Sure, this is fuzzy, at best, lacking details like how many daily/monthly processing tokens or even how many prompts.
In fact, there are precious few details about what any of these Plus tiers (according to Techcrunch, will cost between $2.99 and $3.99 a month in the US) might offer. This means we can only look to how other digital platforms have introduced Plus-like tiers and what it's meant for consumer access.
If we were to look at streamers, the answer is clear and not encouraging.
Virtually every streaming platform sliced up its offerings to add a more affordable but ad-stuffed tier. In the case of Amazon, it took the more draconian measure and simply converted existing Amazon Prime Video customers to the ad tier. If you wanted to return to your original ad-free experience, you pay more.
Or look at Garmin and its Connect+ service, where it seems all the best analytical features are behind the subscription curtain.
As I've written before, we're now knee deep in tech subscription service culture, where companies unveil new products where key features are only available if you're willing to pay a never-ending monthly service fee.
The concern for Meta's Plus plan is that there are countless social media and communication features we depend on that could, without notice, suddenly fall under Plus.
WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption is a good example. It's a core, longtime, and laudable feature that is possibly the reason millions use it. What if encryption eventually ends up falling under WhatsApp Plus? I bet it would happen quietly, with a notice hidden in your email, or an unread WhatsApp message.
On Facebook, you could lose the ability to post more than three photos in a post, or maybe only Facebook Plus subscribers can post more than three public posts in a day.
Similarly, Instagram is ripe to shift key features like longer Reels, saving Stories, or Direct Messages under a Plus banner.
If you miss some of these features, there will be Meta One, a buy-one-get-all Plus bundle. The social media giant is only testing this idea, but it will surely be the answer to those frustrated by all they lost and looking for a more affordable way to claw it all back. So for one slightly lower price, you get it all (and probably a little more).
An upside
,Meta's Plus plan might not be all bad. I think many of us still grudgingly use Facebook because old friends are still on there, and it's the only place we get and share birthday messages. No one is thrilled with the ads or constant prompts to follow people we don't know or to join groups where we have at best a passing interest. Then there's the content itself, which is filled with AI garbage, hot takes, and misinformation.
What if Facebook Plus could be an ad-free and more curated experience? Could the premium tier ban, at your request, all AI?
If Instagram Plus were a custom-built service where you choose the feed, creating the perfect algorithm (or no algorithm at all) and pick and choose which features you want, that might be a social media platform worth paying for.
Let's get real
Unfortunately, I don't think Meta's subscription plan will ultimately work this way. As a signal, I look to Gleit's comments about Creators. For the promise of Plus or premium, they get:
- More tools
- Enhanced presence
- Automated tasks
- The ability to protect their brand.
I'm confused. Aren't all these things part of the base, free versions of Instagram and Facebook? Why would a creator suddenly have to pay to "protect their brand?"
Even if free protections remain strong, I'm sure Meta will pitch "enhanced protections" that many creators will want.
As it is, Instagram and Facebook's free versions don't do a great job of protecting identity. There are always fake versions of celebrities, and I've heard of people losing their valuable accounts and getting virtually no support from Meta when they try to reclaim them.
What's next
While we wait for details of Meta's Plus plan to emerge, I think we have to prepare for the worst. Services are an undeniably attractive business. People pay for access to their favorite platform or features, and they pay every single month. Once they're subscribed, they rarely peel off, even when you slightly raise the prices.
Just look at Apple, which long had a services business, but has grown it into a substantial multi-billion dollar piece of its revenue pie.
With billions of users around the globe, Meta's subscription business opportunity is enormous, and I'm guessing it felt it had to do this to ensure revenue growth, especially as people begin to wonder if they need to spend less time online and more time touching grass.
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